Woke at 6.40. Breakfast was at 7.30 with the bus leaving at 8am (?).
We drove into Florence and Reuben dropped us near the river. We went to Leonardo's leather shop to see a demonstration of how leather things are made and stamped, and also learnt how to tell if a leather product is genuine:
After this, we had spare time, and so Sue, I, Matt, Conrad, Rachel, and Sean set off walking. I'd got by with the rain until now, but I had to put the cape on here, coz it was getting very heavy. It proved to be a major pain to get on and off, and so I was desperate to find a brolly hawker to buy one (although I wanted to find a decent one in a proper shop - no chance). We found a cafe [after discovering that the Fine Arts Academy which holds the original work of Michelangelo's David had a queue a mile and a half long], and sat down to relax. I had a pizza and a latte which were both divine. The rain cleared and spirits rose. We went for a wander through markets before making our way back to our meeting place for 2pm.
Shell organised a guided tour around the old buildings which would have been good except for the rain. I ditched the cape and got really desperate to find a brolly hawker. The rain started in earnest here, and I was getting drenched from the knees down. At the last minute a kind-looking lady waved brollies in my face and asked for 10,000 lira. I offered her 5 and she gave in straight away. I chose it, and she even put it up for me. The tour moved on and we lost half of the ppl. Sue and I bunked out and decided to adjourn to the internet cafe. I got us there by the map, but the long way, so when we got there, everyone was already there. It was so nice to sit down, dry out, and relax. Best thing is, it was only 8,000 L for two hours. I got completely up to date and then we met up again at the leather shop.
We went back to the bus and drove to a plaza on a hill to have our photo taken with the city in the background. It should turn out nicely. We drove back into town for dinner at a restaurant. We had antipasto, pasta, and chicken in tomatoey sauce and veges, with ice cream cake for dessert. Washed down with a 1.5l of really nice wine - it was very nice.
We moved on to the Red Garter pub and I had a Brown Cow and a bit of a dance to the Aussie guy singing and playing guitar with a midi player. That was fairly dodgy, esp since he had the wrong chords for Mambo no 5. The bus ride home was horrible, coz a lot of ppl were very drunk and very noisy. Got home at midnight.
We drove into Florence and Reuben dropped us near the river. We went to Leonardo's leather shop to see a demonstration of how leather things are made and stamped, and also learnt how to tell if a leather product is genuine:
- check inside seams for suede
- expect uneven skin pigments etc.
- don't take any notice if they wave a lighter against it - they need to hold it still to prove anything.
After this, we had spare time, and so Sue, I, Matt, Conrad, Rachel, and Sean set off walking. I'd got by with the rain until now, but I had to put the cape on here, coz it was getting very heavy. It proved to be a major pain to get on and off, and so I was desperate to find a brolly hawker to buy one (although I wanted to find a decent one in a proper shop - no chance). We found a cafe [after discovering that the Fine Arts Academy which holds the original work of Michelangelo's David had a queue a mile and a half long], and sat down to relax. I had a pizza and a latte which were both divine. The rain cleared and spirits rose. We went for a wander through markets before making our way back to our meeting place for 2pm.
Shell organised a guided tour around the old buildings which would have been good except for the rain. I ditched the cape and got really desperate to find a brolly hawker. The rain started in earnest here, and I was getting drenched from the knees down. At the last minute a kind-looking lady waved brollies in my face and asked for 10,000 lira. I offered her 5 and she gave in straight away. I chose it, and she even put it up for me. The tour moved on and we lost half of the ppl. Sue and I bunked out and decided to adjourn to the internet cafe. I got us there by the map, but the long way, so when we got there, everyone was already there. It was so nice to sit down, dry out, and relax. Best thing is, it was only 8,000 L for two hours. I got completely up to date and then we met up again at the leather shop.
We moved on to the Red Garter pub and I had a Brown Cow and a bit of a dance to the Aussie guy singing and playing guitar with a midi player. That was fairly dodgy, esp since he had the wrong chords for Mambo no 5. The bus ride home was horrible, coz a lot of ppl were very drunk and very noisy. Got home at midnight.
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